‘It’s going to finish the village’: how Morecambe Bay’s tragedy changed cocklepickers’ lives for ever

After 23 migrants died while searching for cockles in 2004, access to the lucrative fishery became more regulated. But local fishers claim the new rules mean their families have been left behind

On the outskirts of the fishing village of Flookburgh, Cumbria, a prohibition notice is stapled to a large metal gate across the entrance to the sands: Beach closed to cockle fishing." It is an offence to remove cockles until April 2024 and any person caught doing so risks a fine of up to 10,000.

Michael Wilson jumps out of his white van to unhook the gate and then drives past a handful of shrimping trailers to the edge of Morecambe Bay, the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sands in the country, at 120 sq miles.